Cells were collected by centrifugation, fixed in 1·5% paraformaldehyde in PBS for 10 min at room temperature and treated with ice-cold methanol (500 µl/106 cells) for 10 min at 4°C. Cells were washed twice in PBS containing 1% BSA and stained with polyclonal antibodies to p-JNK (1:200), p-p38 (1:100) or p-c-Jun (1:20) in PBS 1% BSA for 30 min at room temperature. After incubation, the cells were washed twice with PBS 1% BSA, stained with FITC-conjugated goat polyclonal anti-rabbit IgG (1:200) or Cy3-conjugated see more rabbit polyclonal anti-goat IgG (1:100), washed twice more in PBS 1%

BSA, then 5000 events were analysed by FACScan (BD Biosciences). Autofluorescence was assessed using untreated cells. MonoMac6 (1 × 106/ml) cells were incubated alone or with JNK inhibitor SP 600125 (0·5 µM) or p38 inhibitor SB

203580 (1 µM) for 30 min at 37°C, or with antibody to FcγRIIB or irrelevant goat polyclonal IgG (0·1 µg/ml) for 30 min at 4°C. After culture, the cells were incubated alone or with GXM (100 µg/ml) in RPMI-1640 for 2 h at 37°C with 5% CO2. After incubation, the cells were washed and lysed with M-PER in the presence of protease inhibitors (BioVision, Mountain View, CA, USA) and phosphatase inhibitors (Sigma-Aldrich). Protein concentrations were determined with a bicinchoninic acid (BCA) protein assay reagent kit (Pierce). The lysates (100 µg of each sample) were separated by sodium dodecyl sulphate-10% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), and transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane (Pierce) for 1 h at 100 V in a blotting system selleck chemicals llc (Bio-Rad) for Western blot analysis. Membranes Phosphatidylinositol diacylglycerol-lyase were then placed in blocking buffer, and incubated overnight at 4°C with rabbit polyclonal antibody to phospho-JNK (Thr183/Tyr185, Thr221/Tyr223) (1:1000). Membranes were stripped, blocked and incubated with rabbit polyclonal antibody to phospho-p38 MAPK (Thr180/Tyr182) (1:1000)

in blocking buffer, stripped, blocked and incubated with rabbit polyclonal antibody to phospho-c-Jun (Ser 63/73) (1:1000) in blocking buffer, stripped again and incubated with rabbit polyclonal antibody to FasL (1:1000). Immunoblotting with the rabbit polyclonal anti-actin antibody (H-300) (1:200) was performed in the same membrane and was used as an internal loading control to ensure equivalent amounts of protein in each lane. Detection was achieved using appropriate HRP-linked anti-rabbit IgG, followed by Immun-Star™ HRP chemiluminescent kit (Bio-Rad). Immunoreactive bands were visualized and quantified by Chemidoc Instruments (Bio-Rad). Heparinized venous blood was obtained from healthy donors. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were separated by density gradient centrifugation on Ficoll-Hypaque (Pharmacia), as described previously [23]. For lymphocyte purification, PBMC were plated on culture flasks for 1 h in RPMI-1640 plus 5% FCS at 37°C and 5% CO2.